Twenty Two Years
by shingekinorivaille
Summary: "We've known each other for twenty two years. It sounds insane really, but I've never once regretted meeting you that night." Marco/Mina, several timelines, character death, AU.


**Twenty Two Years**

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**I like the things where you go through several timelines with the characters so I did the thing.**

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**Trost, 850**

His fingers curl and uncurl when he comes across a body. He leans down and observes the headless corpse for a moment before sighing.

_Mina._

He could recognize her petite figure anywhere. She's lying on her side, one arm underneath her while the other lies out in front of her. There's nothing he can do now, but he can't help but feel helpless. It's supposed to be their final day together before she leaves for the Scouting Legion and he goes to the Military Police. None of this was supposed to happen.

It shouldn't have ended like this.

**New York City, 1924**

She's different from the others. That's the first thing Marco notices about her. All of the other flappers have their hair in short bobs and run around shaking their hips at every chance they get.

But she's different. Her hair is still long and styled in pigtails. She seems to be quiet and ignores most of the people that approach her. Not in a rude way, but in the way of _why am I here? I don't want to be _way.

He watches her the entire night as she sips at the red wine in front of her. She eventually looks up and catches his eye for a moment before looking away.

No one pays attention as a man comes crashing into the bar and stomps straight to her. She flinches away from him, looking angry. He grabs her arm and says something (from this angle, Marco can't read his lips) and the girl doesn't reply. He drags her out.

Marco leans forward and orders another drink.

_I should have said something._

**Salem, 1692**

Marco pushes himself through the crowd, trying to block out the loud cheering coming from most of the people gathered. He makes his way to the front when his eyes land on Mina. The man behind her is pulling the noose over her head when they make eye contact. She looks terrified, but gives him a reassuring look and smiles.

He mouths, "_I love you_."

"_I lov—" _

The man behind her pushes her before she can finish. Marco can't stand to watch her struggle for breath, but he can't look away either. Her fingers are tightening around the rope as she pulls at it.

Their eyes are still locked as the life slips right out of her, her eyes going blank and arms hanging limply at her sides. The majority of the crowd is going wild with shouts and laughter.

Marco nearly falls to the ground, but Jean grabs hold of him before he can.

**Detroit, 1981**

Mina's never felt complete before. She's not sure how to explain it, but something always felt wrong. Like there's an important piece of her life missing. She's never had any idea how to fix it, so she begins to ignore it. It isn't until her last day of high school in Detroit when she figures it out.

Her family leaves tomorrow, and it keeps on hitting her hard. She doesn't want to leave behind the friends she's had since before any of them could properly talk, yet there's no choice in the matter. Her dad got a job in Paris. And while she's happy she'll get to be there, she would much rather it be an exchange program.

Of all days, she finally figures out what's always been missing. One of her friends is talking to her while she rummages through her locker. It's before first hour, so she can't really bring herself to make an attempt at conversation, last day or not. She turns to add in a simple comment of 'yeah' when she sees someone she doesn't recognize out of the corner of her eye.

Their eyes meet. Her eyes widen in shock, and his expression mirrors hers. She goes to say something when the bell rings and they're pulled back to reality.

He's in her first hour, but she doesn't get the chance to say anything.

They don't have the same lunch. She sees him walking into a French class when she's on her way to the cafeteria.

At the end of the day, he walks past. She's surrounded by everyone saying goodbye and can't chase after him.

The feeling of being incomplete is back.

**Boston, 2013**

He takes a deep breath. This is it, today is the day.

He's going to propose to Mina Carolina.

The ring and its box feel heavy in his coat pocket as he pulls it on.

The place they're going isn't the fanciest place he's ever stepped foot into, but neither of them like to be overly pampered, coming from rich families and feeling as if they've been too spoiled their entire lives.

It's the restaurant of a small yacht club that they met at as children. He smiles at the memory as he plays with his tie. They'd only been five, but the two had met on the large balcony. Mina was sitting with her parents, a bored look on her face, her chin resting on one of her hands. He was being dragged to the table by his mother, his father leading the way.

Apparently their parents had been long time friends who hadn't seen each other in years.

And now here they are, with their children hopefully getting married. The only person besides him who actually knows in either family is Mina's father, sine he asked for permission for her hand in marriage.

He picks her up himself, deciding against a limo. She's in a light pink dress that steals his breath away. It's strapless and the back is in a corset style. The sash across the top of the dress goes around the front and loops down into the corset, tying into a large bow right where the dress begins to poof out. The skirt is floor length, enough so to cover the marching high heels she's wearing. (He notices the heels when she gets into the car.) The front of the skirt has ruffles that cascade down in an opening from the rest of the flatter fabric. She has her hair up for once, rather than in their usual pigtails she's had since the night they met. It up in a bun, two strands hanging on either side in perfect curls.

"You look beautiful," he manages.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she says with a smile.

The night goes by smoothly and they get through dinner easily. When they finish eating, Marco leads her onto the balcony. The lights on the railing are lit up in an array of colors as Marco grabs her hand and walks towards the edge.

She leans over the railing slightly, staring out at the water.

"Mina."

She glances over at him for a moment before standing up straight and turning to him. "Yeah?"

He grabs her free hand with his, a nervous smile crossing his face. "We've known each other for twenty two years. It sounds insane really, but I've never once regretted meeting you that night. We grew up together, and I've always loved you. You're the only person I've ever had interest in and I was wondering if," he pulls his right hand away reaching into his pocket. With a shuddering breath, he sinks down to one knee and looks up at her, "you would do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me?"

He pops the box open with the final words of his speech.

She stares at him for a moment, her mouth hanging open and almost looking like she's about to cry. He starts to panic for a moment, but then she nods.

"Oh God, of course I want to marry you, Marco."

He places the ring on her finger before standing up and looking her in the eye. They stare at each other and then Mina wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him. His arms move around her waist on instinct; he hasn't had to think about doing so in years.

"I love you so much, Marco."

"I love you too, Mina."

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**Aggressively shipping this. Why do I always ship unpopular pairings? But either way, I hope you guys liked this! I had fun writing it.**


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